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THE UNION-THE CONSTITUTION-PEACE. 



A 



THASKSfilVING SERMOS, 



JNO. WALKEE JArivSON, 



THE UNIOI^-THE CONSTITUTION-PEACE. 



TllASKSGIVING SEIiMOS, 



DKLIVEUED IX THE 



LOCUST ST. M. E. GHURCH, HAMISBURG, PA. 



JNO. WALKEE JACKSOJf, Pastor, 



AUGUST 6, 1863. 



'• Victorii.'s on the land ainl-oa the sea, so signal and so offoctive as to furnish reasonable 
grounds for augmented conlhleic^' that the U.vioy of mESE States will bo niaintitinc.l , thoir 
CoNSiiTunoN preserved, .and their pe.\ck and prosperity permanently restored.' 

; PRESiDKNT'S FK'K'UMATION. 



II A R K I S B U R G : 

" TELEGKAI'H" STEAM COOK A>:i> JOB OFPICR. 

1863. 



V^ " 



3 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



IlARRjSBrEG, Aug. 6, 1868. 
REV. MR. JACKSOX, 

Pastor of mK I>oa:ST Street M. E. Cutrch. 

Dear Sie : — The undersigned, having just returned from listening to your great ser- 
mon on the Constitution and the Union, beg leave to tender you their siucero thaulvS 
for the research, the ability and patriotism which characterized it. In otir opinion, 
It was not only a great sermon teaching men under all circumstances to do right to 
their fellows, their country and their God, but it contiiined, also, the arguments of a 
Btatiism.in and the thoughts of a learned and lofty Christian. We desire, therefore, that 
the benefits we have derived from listening to its delivery, be extended to the people 
of the whole country, and we earnestly request that you will furnish a copy of the 
same sermon to be, printed and circulated in such manner as we may decide upon. 

There is no c1r.ss of men so powerful for good as the energy. If they will, in every 
pulpit throughout the whole land with the same courage and ability which have distin- 
guished your career as a loyal man and Christian Pastor, come out boldly in defence of 
the Administration of Mr. Lincoln in his effirt."? to arrest conspiracy, we shall soon see 
the restoration of oifr beloved Union. It requires only a united North to end this unholy 
war and bring the patriots now fighting the battles of the country to their beloved homes 
to receive the grateful applause of their countrymen and the warm welcomes of the 
loved ones at home. Your friends truly. 



X. 0. niFiTTER, 
G.G. RAKESTRAW, 
J. J.WEirZEL, 
GEO. F. RaSS, 
WM.H.AMEY, 
J.C.BOMBERGER, 
JAMES M.SEU£R.S, 
R.A.MARTIN', 
JOHN J.CLYDE, 
S.H.ETTLA, 
GEORGE H.OSGOOD, 
G.W.HAUPT, 
C. M'CURDY. 



SIMON CAMERON, 
WM.COLDFJt, 
W.T. HILDRUP, 
AARON BOMBAUGH, 
A.K. SWARTZ, 
J. C. YOUNG, 
A.C.SMITH, 
J. D. CAMERON, 
BENJAmN GROFF, 
DAVID MUMMA, 
L. J.G. SHICK, 
N.S.ENGLE, 



Harrisburg, Aug. 8, 1S63. 
HON. SIMON CAMERON AND OTHERS— 

GKNTLEMK.V: — Your request is, with me, a satisfactory rea.son w^y my sermon, 
delivered on the 6th of August, should be published. Its length, with the extreme 
heat of the day, caused me to omit the expression of some views that I esteem a.s truth- 
ful and as importJint as any that I uttered , at the time ; I have therefore taken the 
liberty of submitting the discourse for publication as originally prepared. My views of 
duty as a Minister of the Gospel, and as a citizen of the Republic in this, thb crisis of hor 
history, would notsuCTer mo to do less than 1 have done. Give an honest and hearty sup- 
port to the EXISTING Government in its efTorts to supi)ress a needless and cruel rebellion. 
My only regret is that I can do so little in a cause so righteous, and at a period when so 
mueh is to be done. With great respect, I am 

Slncerbly and truly yours , 

JNO. WAIJCER JACKSON. 



•W 



.,)<*^^ 



THANKSGIVING DISCOUKSE. 



It was in my sick cliamber, when my sohI seemed listening 
to "the swellings of Jordan," that the conscience within me 
i»quired how, if my life were spared until to-day, should I 
perform my share of its duties"? What sHould be the 
burden of my message to you? What lessons of the hour 
should I essay to teach ? The answer, that after thoughtful 
hours of meditation and prayer, I gave to conscience, I will now 
utter in your hearing, humbly soliciting the Divine guidance ; 
God's blessing upon that which I shall say that is truthful and 
wise, His forgiveness for all that in my ignorance I may speak 
unwisely. 

What are the grounds for the proclamation of this May, 
closing our places of business and opening our churches at the 
invitation of the Chief ^Magistrate of this free nationality ! 
Why, to-day, are we here to fill the courts of God's sanctuary 
with praise and thanksgiving ? Hear the answer of the Pro- 
clamation : 

"It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplica- 
tions and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to 
the Army and the Navy of the United States victories on land 
and on the sea, so signal and so cjfectife as to furnish reasonable 
grounds for augmented confidence that the Union of these States 
will he maintained, their Constitution preserved, ami their peace and 
prospcn'ti/ ■permanently restored." 

We are here, then, to praise God for "signal and effective 
victories on the land and on the sea." Victories that hav^e 
cost "sacrifices of life, limb, health and liV^erty, incurred by 
brave, loyal and patriotic citiiiens." "In the train of i\n'<e 
fearful bereavements " have followed "donusstic atfliclions in 



THANKSGIVING DISCOUKSE. 



every part of the country ; " wives made widows, children 
made orphans, parents made childless ; a land full of Rachels, 
" weeping for their children and refusing to be comforted." 
" Victory is turned into mourning." Victories and sorrows 
go hand in hand; and no mere s})lendor of victory can atone 
for such multiplied and wide spread sorrows. A land, one 
vast field of blood, full of breaking hearts and — victory ? And 
yet Ave ar© told — "It is meet and right — equally in these ii'i- 
umphs and sorrows — to recognize and confess the presence of 
the Almighty Father and the })ower of his hand." 

Why should tlie song to-day of lofty tone, ring out above 
and drown the low, mournful wail of anguish '? Why ? Be- 
cause of victoTy > Victories in contests undertaken merely for 
national glory — to spread abroad a nation's fame — call for 
humiliation, and fasting and prayer — not thanksgiving, praise 
and prayer; — call for sackcloth and ashes; for the higher the 
elevation and glory obtained by any nation or people through 
such victories, the deeper the subsequent degradation and 
humiliation, for " pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty 
spirit before a fall." 

But our victories, " so signal and so efiective by land and 
sea," have been achieved in no mad spirif of conquest or of 
aggression ; they are the victories of law over violence, of 
government over anarchy. Victories in defence of a long- 
established government, a Constitutional, peaceful, beneficent 
government — against a principle making any such Union as 
this was intended to be, a mere impossibility. Victories — fur- 
nishing reasonable ground for augmented confidence, 

1st. That the Union of these States shall be maintained ; 

2d. Our Constitution preserved ; 

3d. Peace and prosperity permanently restored. 

Blessed and glorious issues of victories! Therefore the 
song of praise : therefore the psahn of thanksgiving ! Vic- 
tories in a c^use so pure as ours, and for a purpose so grand 
and sublime, for Union, for Constitutional Liberty, for Peace, 
for such Victories — while we sorrow for the dead, who die 
not alone for us, but for the coming millions who are to in- 
herit the maintained Nationality — the grand old Union — let 
us uejoice. . 

Ill this spirit is this day set apart as one of national thanks- 



THAN'KS(UVINCt DISCOUIWK. 5 

giving, praise and prayer, and in this spirit we are met for its 
observance ; to "render the homage due to the Divine Majesty 
"for the wonderful things He has done in the nation's behalf, 
" and invoke the intiucnce of Hi'^ holy S])irit to subdue the 
"anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless 
" and cruel rebellion ; to change the hearts of the insurgents ; 
" to guide the counsels of the Govermnent with wisdom ade- 
" quate to so g-roat a national emergency, and to visit with 
" tender care and consolation throughout the length and 
" breadth of our land all those who, through the vicissitudes 
" of marches, voyages, batdes and sieges, ha^'e been brought 
" to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally to lead the 
" whole nation, through the paths of repentance and submis- 
" sion to the Divine Avill, back to the perfect enjoyment of 
" Union and fraternal peace." 

I. WE EEJOICK IX THE COXFIDENCE THAT THE UNION OF THESE 
STATES AVILL BE SUSTAINTiD. 

But the question meets us at the very threshold of our 
rejoicing. Why should "Victories so signal and so effective 
as to furnish reasonable grounds for a.ugmented confidence 
that the Union of these States will be sustained, their consti- 
tution preserved, peace and prosperity be permanently re- 
stored," be the subject of thanksgiving, prayer and praise ? 
Are these issues so linked together that the one depends upon 
the other — that the loss of one is the loss of all ? Why is 
the Union of these States so earnestly to be desired ; so ardently 
to be maintained? Are all the sacrifices and sufi'ering, to 
which I have alluded, and that are so touchingly described in 
the proclamation of our President, to be Avillingly made, to be 
patieully endured for the maintenance of the Union '? May 
not tlie Constitution be preserved the great sheet anchor of 
our national hope, may not permanent ])eace and prosperity 
be secured and the Union be divided ? the independence, as 
it is termed, of the South be acknowledged? Why may not 
eighteen States be governed by \he Constitution, ;is well as 
thirty-live? Sublinte as it is in idea to have a grand, undi- 
vided national domain stretching from the lakes on the north 
to the gulf on the south, from ocean to ocean — Why ? for a 
BubliTue idea, a vast tmwieldy territory, pour out rivers of 
blood and sacrifice millions of treasure ? 



6 TIlANKiJGIVlNCi mS(JOLKSE. 

Divide, and have peace, and over all that remains of terri- • 
tory and of people, let the mantle of our glorious Constitution 
fall ! What did the Eng-lish people lose of Constitutional lib- 
erty by the loss of their American Colonial |)ossessions as the 
result of the war of the Revolution ? and what shall we lose 
should this Avar cease and the South be left t/) work out her 
own destiny ? 

Do I utter the unexpressed thoughts of any before me ? — 
Does any lover of Constitutional Liberty — any one sincerely 
attached to a Republican form of government, such as God 
has given to us, think that Peace and Liberty can be pre- 
served by such a course ] Come, let us reason together ! 
What, preserve the Constitution, and submit to the demands 
of the conspirators against that Constitution? The Consti- 
tution was "ordained to form a more perfect Union," and will 
you preserve it by giving up one of its clearly defined objects ? 
— its greatest purpose ? Divide ! Recognize the independ- 
ence of a Southern Confederacy, and what security have you 
that you shall not agaiii and again be called upon to recognize 
the independence of other Sfesites and confederacies of States ? 
What security have you that New York City Avould not as- 
sume the '■'■mdependent position" that Fernando Wood upon the 
eve of these hostilities proposed that she should assume? 
Nay, Wiiat right would you have to prevent it ? Suffer the 
South to accomplish her purpose, and what hope have you 
that the remaining United States shall remain "one and indi- 
visible '?" We have said of the old United States — the L"ni- I 
ted States of the Atlas, and yet, thank God, of the loyal heait 
— that it was "one and indivisible," and after having suffered 
the knife of division to separate, with what show of confidence 
will we say that the 7ieiv United States, starting in separation, 
and recognizing the 7-iffht of secession, shall maintain against 
internal dissension her unity and integrity ? Upon what prin- 
ciple would you dare oppose an already conceded right ? The 
very life departed from the Union, the principle of cohesion 
gone, nothing then remains, but the supplication "give us a 
place to bin;y" the dead form of loveliness, doomed to rotten- 
ness and disintegration, "out of our sight," for "no Promc- 
thoau lire ;an again the living light relume." The Union be- 
^: comes abso!utel}^and forever an impossibility, and discordant 



niAXK>)<ilVIN(i I)l*C<,)LK.Sli. 



belligerent States, petty nationalities, occupy its place in the 
family of nations. "0, lamG and impotent conclusion"' to a 
past like that of ours I The South, in the event of her suc- 
cess — as her leadhig- men have declared and the tendency of 
current events clearly indicate — does not contemplate such a 
form of government ; for succes.-;, witli our form of govern- 
ment, and her interpretation of its genius and spirit, would be 
her ruin ; but, knowing the advantages of Union, she will con- 
struct her government on the basis of a strong centralized des- 
potism. 

We dare not admit the right of secession. It scarce needs 
an argument to establish its baselessness, its utter want of con- 
stitutionality ; for no con.stitution ever made provision for the 
death of the nation of which it is the organic law ; and as the 
Union is constitutional, everything necessary to preserve the 
Union is constitutional, for constitutions do not give a people 
a work to do without giving them the means to do it with. 
That the disruption of the Union is unconstitutional, but that 
the Constitution provides no means for its prevention, such a 
doctrine makes our form of government the absurdest ever 
conceived o'l — pretending Union for its object, and yet provid- 
ing no security against the great antagonist an(i destroyer of 
the Union. 

We feel the clear comprehensive idea of American national- 
ity. We know that the trust of territory that God has given 
to us on this continent is to be maintained in common for all 
and by all. There is to the American people no North, no 
South, but an undivided territory to be transmitted to our 
children as our fathers transmitted it to us, their children ; 
held not for national vanity, not to be cut aud split into war- 
ring sections but as a sacred trust for hiunan happiness in Lib- 
erty, and havuig accepted the pledge to guarantee to every State 
a Republican form of government, we dare not even risk the 
possibility of the establishment of any other foiin. We shall 
and will hold up tlic old Hag, maintaining it Avitli all that it 
means for ilic poor, tlie degraded aud the oppressed. 

JJisunion is not peace : cannot be peace, ^^'e know that causes 
of war, now scarcely coiitempiatod, would again and again 
kindle its horrid ilames. We mean to have a permanent peace, 
and for this we mean to maintain the union of these States. 



TIIANKSGIVrKG DISCOUHSE. 



My friends, tliere is notlnng clearer to us than the right of 
the Government in this contest, and nothing more certain tlian 
its ability to maintain the right, with what every government 
ought to have : the cordial support of all its professedly loyal 
citizens. 

And here let me say that I approach Avhat is to me the most 
painful part of my subject, the efibrt of a minority, but a power- 
ful minority, to thwart the action of the Government in its hon- 
est efforts to suppress the rebellion, 

I do not believe — I have not believed in the darkest hour — 
and there have been dark hours, to me, to you, and to every 
lover of the country, from its Chief Magistrate down to the 
humblest citizen — that these efforts can be successful. Did I 
believe that, I should lose confidence in the capacity of num 
for self-government. Thank God, I have not lost that yet — 
nay, that confidence grows stronger. But I lament these divi- 
sions, these fault-findings, this covert opposition, in the Xorth, 
to the Government, because it but prolongs the war, it but 
multiplies the frightful "loss of life, limb, property, liberty," 
over Avhich Ave all weep. The secret eneni}- strengthens the 
hands of the open enemy. I have been sad at times, very sad 
— as who has not been 1 It was not the mother who could look 
■with unconcerned composure u.pon the threatened division of 
the child by the judgment of Solomon. The mother whose 
child is sick tells you by her countenance and manner how the 
sickness goes ; her hopes and feavs as to the child's recovery 
during all the long nights and days of watchfulness are re- 
flected in her face as in a glass ; the rise and fall of hope are 
seen there as the conditions of the atmosphere are visible in a 
barometer, although she may not have lost her confidence in 
the skill of her physician, under God, to restore the child 
again to health. So the loyal, ha\'ing every confidence in the 
ultimate result of this struggle, have felt sad, O, hoAV sad ! 
My sadness has not been at reverses — they were to have 
been expected — but because I have seen the leaven of treason 
at work in our loyal communities ; the demon of rebellion 
lurking in our valleys, ready at any hour or moment to deluge 
the loyal States with' the crimson current that has rolled over 
Virginia and Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi. 
Have you not heard ignorant, deluded men, who never read a 



THAN-KSGIVIXrt DISCOUUSli. 9 

lino of the Constitution — at the instigation of shrewd political 
knaves, Avho, setting themselves up as champions of the Con- 
stitution, aim at its subversion — prate about its violation ? — 
What single measure absolutely indispensable to preserve the 
Government from overthrow, has filled to be assaulted with 
furious violence by some newspapers and men? Rebels in 
arms ha\e had demanded for them every right to which loyal 
citizens arc entitled. According to these constitutionalists it 
is unconstitational to touch^he property which gives to insur- 
rectionists against the CV)nstitution tlie power to be mischiev- 
ous. Traitors among ovu'selves employed the liberty which 
they possessed in organizing bands to obstruct the movements 
of national arniies, even on their way to defend the capital, 
and it is unconstitutional to restrain them. To aid by legisla- 
tion a loyal State in riddijig itself of a political ulcer, whose 
rottenness, Avhcrc it has been allowed to run its sourse, has 
corrupted the whole body politic, and has nearly cost the na- 
tion its life — this is unconstitutional. Anything, with tiiese 
political knaves, to save the Constitution, is unconstitutional, 
and nothing is constitutional but the light to subvert the Con- 
stitution. The plain tenor of their speeches and writing's dis- 
couraged volunteering, and then the conscription Vi'as uncon- 
stitutional in any form, and then in some of its features. Re- 
sistance to the law of the land all over the land was urged, a 
law which like a criminal Avho is supposed to be innocent un- 
til he is proved guilty, should have been imagined to have had 
the. force of constitutionality until declared unconstitutional. 
Resi.stance to the death, urged from the platform, and the 
' simplest provision of the bUl, introduced, as it would be easy 
: to show, for the sake of the poor, represented as an invidious 
distinction, until the murder of the officers of the law became 
a common event in some localities, and the most horrible riot 
known in the nineteenth century, unparalleled by an}i;hing in 
history, except the dark days of the French Revolution, dis- 
graced the civilization of the age and the. metropolis of the na- 
tion. A riot, the unmistakable result of all this teaching, of 
\ these inflammatory utterances, one of whose ringleaders, Avho 
made speeches to fan it during its progress, was a popular 
speaker at tlie so-called peace meetings held in the Cooper In- 
stitute and elsewhere. Peace, whose fruit was blood, carnage, 



10 THANKSOIVIKG DISCOURSE. 

death ! And oh, when the streets were flowing in bloody when 
the fierce unnaturfil liatred against a poor, unoffending people, 
who ha-s e no hand in making laws, nor voice in the choice of 
administrations, but the prejudices against whom had been 
fanned into diabolical enmity by these very newspapers and 
men ; when these poor cioatures were hunted from their homes, 
and being shot, stabbed, and hung, and burned, this foul das- 
tardly riot was de>:ignnted by these uewspajjers an '■'•apritiiiig 
of the iieople^'" and the efforts timt vrere nvide to suppress 
it Avere used to more highly iutiame the rioters by such head 
lines to newspaper columns as '• the militarij Jired upon the people;'^ 
and when some quarters of the city where these poor creatures 
lived, the objects of the insane hatred of the rioters, were likely 
to be overlooked by the murderers, they were in indirect phrase 
invited to do there as they had done elsewhere, by the chief 
organ of the satanIc pres-^, the New Ym^k Herald ; and rioters 
were spoken to in honeyed phrases, and called '■'■frieads,'" by' 
those who, if they spake at all, should have spoken sternly ; 
— rioters who were not to be subdued by human utterances, 
but by the speech of authority from the cannon's moutli. Many 
guilty ones have suffered from the riots, many more will be 
tried and condemned, but the more guilty instigators — they 
whose teacliings sowed this harvest of whirlwinds — they will 
escape ; they who by inflammatory words urged revolution as 
the only means of saving the country, urged open and violent 
resistance to constitutional authority as the legitimate and even 
proper means of upholding the Constitution, until they pro- 
duced a riot against tlie law, against the Republic — they will 
escape. A riot, whose watchwords were hurrahs for Davis, 
and who for a time were so open in tlieir treason as to carry 
the flag of Kebels. A riot, in the interests of the so- 
called Southern Confederacy, for have you not seen with Avhat 
insane joy its fiendish details were commented upon by south- 
ern newspapers '? No reverse to our arms has ever been hailed 
by them more gladly. They,- write about that riot as. if a battle 
had been fought at IS^ew York, in which they were the victors, 
a battle whose result was decisive of their independence. It 
loas subdued, and the national authority vindicated — 'vindicated 
at New York, as at (Tcttysburg.' 

But, my friends, I should be false to the teaching.^ of Him 



THANKSGlVINCi DISCOLRSl'. 1 I 



who was and is, and shall forever be the friend of the oppressed, 
of Him whose minister I profess to bo, and who feels a wrong 
done to the lowliest of mankind as done unto Himself, did I 
not take occasion to say a word in reprobation of that unchris- 
tian prejudice against color, whicli so otten has its violent de- 
monstration in the cities and villages of our land ; that preju- 
dice which designing demagogues educate to bitterness, and 
fan into fiercest flames for the basest purposes of party. The 
'^American of African descent,'" the negro, is among us here by 
no choice or act of his own, and our duty to him is clearly 
marked out by the finger of a Divine Providence pointing to 
him in his helplessness and degradation, and saying, ''Take 
this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." 
Our duty to the negro in our midst, at our doors, cannot be 
evaded, by immense contributions for the evangelization of 
degraded Chinamen, or of the African of golden sands watered 
by rivers of pearl. He is the touchstone of our civfiization, 
humanity, chi^stiauity, and Ave are shameless hypocritical liars 
if we deny to him tlie offices of kindaess and love, looking 
past him, to Booriboola Gha for the objects of our benevolent 
eftbrts in alleviating the wants and woes of suifering humanity. 
He will test the charity of America in the nineteenth century, for 
of him will Jesus say to the christian churches of America in that 
day for which all other days are made, '-Inasmuch as ye did it 
not unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me." 
But to return from what may appear a digression, and yet 
in the very nature of my discourse, one that seemed to me un- 
avoidable — 

To those unanswerable arguments in favor of the mainte- 
nance of the Union of these States growing out of the geo- 
graphical configuration of our country, the flow and the extent 
of our rivers, the direction of our mountains and valleys, the 
great lingual argument that the confusion of tongues separa- 
ting continental Europe into diversified peoples does not exist 
here, but that one speech, for governmental purposes, in the 
main for social intercourse demands one people — one govern- 
ment — I merely allude. You Iwve heard them and read them 
and they are irresistable — they ;ire p:oi)lietic of the issue of 
this controversy. I dismiss this jiait of my subject by say- 
u; — the dissolution of this Union would be national suicide. 



12 Tii.vNKsr.ivixr, discouuse. 

II. WE KEJOICE IN THE COXFll>ENCE THAT OUU CONSTITUTION 
t^HALE BE PUESEKVED. 

The British Constitution is the peculiar boast of an English- 
man. What is the British Constitution ? A something, Uke 
a Poet's dream, " an aii'v notliing Avithout a local habitation 
or a name." There is no copy of it to be found in public or 
private library from one end of t,l)e British dominion to the 
other. This impalpable thing is law, acts of Parliament, con- 
cessions of Kings, long' established usage, innnemorial con- 
sent of the people, the vast majority of -vs'hom cannot know 
what it is, or understand its meaning. ' We, too, boast of 
our Constitution, but it is accurately and clearly defined in 
writing, a condensation of government?al wisdom, whose 
objects are intelligibly distinguished. A monument of the 
wisdom of our fathers wlio cradled a Government amid the 
storms of revolution and made provision for peaceful revolu- 
tions by the ballot box, and for the prevention of bloody 
revolutions by giving to us a system of government, a Consti- 
tution — not to be too frequently tampered with, but yet making 
provisions for the changes that the increasing wisdom of the 
people, or the exigencies of future times may demand. 

I look upon our Constitution as something almost sacred, 
such Avas the influence of the teachings of my childhood, 
such the judgment of my manhood. We thank God to-day 
for victories on the land and on the sea, so signal and so ef- 
fective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confi- 
dence that — "the Constitution shall be preserved." 

But this Constitution is violated, say the enemies of the 
country' Avho claim to be the exclusive /ive/ifZ*' of the Constitu- 
tion. It is crucified in the house of its friends. . The Admin- 
istration in its eflbrts to preserve the Union violate the Con- 
stitution. On a bright summer day in 18G1, I s.at in the 
crowded galleries of the Senate Chamber of the United 
States. It Avas but a A'ery few days prior to the first battle 
of Bull Run. I Avas there to listen to a speech by iui ex-vice- 
president, then a member of that body, raid a traitor in heant 
and Avord, now a general in the army of insurrection. In 
that speech he said, I Avrote it doAvn as he uttered it, that 
"the eflorts being made to preserve the Union AA'ere digging 



THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 13 

the c;rixvc of Constitutional Liberty." All secessionists talk 
in tlie same way, all synipathizevs with secession speak the 
same langi^age, and that expression in as many varied forms 
as it is possible to ntter it, has been the favorite weapon of 
the Northern members of this school of politics in their 
attacks on this war of self-preservation. What did the ut- 
terance mean in his mouth ? — but that the nation must die to 
preserve its Constitution — die to continue the organic law 
by Avhich it lives. And when the nation thus dies, what be- 
comes of the necessity of its Constitution ? It would be 
as absurd in the abodes of the dead, iu cemeteries to hang 
up rules of conduct, precepts for the regulation of their 
intercourse one with the other, as to speak of the sacredness 
of Constitutions to dead nations. My friends, the Consti- 
tution which made more perfect the Union of these States, 
was made to preserve, under God, that which our fathers had 
struggled for, oru nationality, to continue that nationality 
demands its maintenance. 

One of the sublime chapters in Bancroft's History of Amer- 
ica is headed, ^'Au American Empire in the JJirine Decrees.'" In 
that chapter Wm. Livingston is reported as saying as early 
as April, seventeen hundred and sixty-eight, "Courage, 
Americans 1 liberty, Veligion and sciences are on thg wing to 
these shores. The finger of G.od points out a mighty em- 
pire to your sons. , The savages of the wilderness w^ere 
never expelled to make room for idolaters and slaves. The 
land we -possess is the gift of Heaven to our fathers, and 
divine Providence seems to have decreed it to our latest pos- 
terity. So legible is this munificent and celestial deed in 
past events, that we need not be discoui-aged by the bicker- 
ings between us and our parent country. The angry cloud 
will soon be dispersed, and America advance to felicity and 
glory with redoubled rapidity and vigor. The day dawns in 
whirh the foundatiou of this Empire is to be laid by the es- 
tablishment of a regular Amkkican Constiti-tion. All that 
has hitherto been done, seems to be little beside the collec- 
tion of materials for this glorious fabric. 'Tis time to put 
them together. 'J'he traiLsfer of the European part of the 
tamily is so vast, that before seven years n^ll ova- our heads 
the first stone nuist be laid." 



14 XHANKSGIVIJCG DISCOURSE. 

In 1775, just seven years, an(] to the very month, this 
struggle of ideas took tlie form of battle on the 19th of 
April, at Lexington. Oh, day made doubly sacred in our 
history by the first shedding of blood in the war of the 
Revolution, and the first shedding of blood in this war for 
the maintenance of our form of Government, on the 19th 
day of April, 1831, when Massachusetts' fVeeraen consecra- 
ted Baltimore sacred by their blood forever to the Union 
and to freedom. 

You cannot keep too prominently before your minds this 
sentiment of nationality, this thrilling idea of a national life 
endangered ; for that is the most terrible feature of this strug- 
gle, and sacred as is the Constitution, as the Sabbath was 
made for man and not man for the Sabbatli. so the Constitu- 
tion was made for the Union — the Nation — and not the 
Union for the Constitution, and we fight for entirely consti- 
tutional purposes, when we take up arms to preserve the 
Union. It is this idea that puts the seal of an everlasting 
reprobation upon the treason of Southern Slaveholders, be- 
cause every motive to the destruction of tlie Union — to tlie 
subversion of the Constitution — was thus put away by insur- 
ing to each successive generation, the right to alter, amend, 
or improve its Constitution according to the increasing intelli- 
gence of the living people. 

In order to give more emphasis to thoughts that I conceive 
to be important, I shall present a short historical retrospect, 
that may, perhaps, have the force of an argument. 

On the 19th day of June, 1751, a memorable Congress 
assembled at Albany. Our great historian says, tliat "Amer- 
ica had never seen an assembly so venerable, whether for the 
States that were represented, or for the great and able men 
that composed it." " Every voice in that Assembly declared a 
Union ©f the Colonies absolutely necessary. And as a pro- 
vince might recede at will from an unratified covenan'.^ the 
most benignant of statesmen Avere deputed to prepare a con- 
stitution for a perpetual confederation. Hutchinson, of 
Mass., Hopkins, of K. I., Pitkins, of Conn., Smith, of N. Y., 
and Franklin, of Philadeljjhia, composed tliat conunittee." 
*' Franklin had already projected a plan of perpetual Union, 
and had brought the heads of it with him. As soon as the 



THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 1.0 

objects of the Convention had been reached, they had met to 
concert measures of defence, and to treat with the sir nations 
and tribes in their alliance, with the dismissal of the red 
men, commenced the discussion of the federal comjmct. The 
project of Franklin was accepted, and on the 10th day of 
July he produced the finished plan of perpetual union, Avhich 
was read paragrapli by paragraph and debated for the entire 
day. It was then, in the language of the historian, agreed to 
"pretty unanimously." 

"It is n^t altogether to my mind," said Frcriklin, in speak- 
ing of it, " but it is as I could get it." 
, The New England Colonies had, in their infancy, given 
birth to a confederacy. Wm. Penn, in 1697, had j^roposed 
an Annual Congress of all the provinces on the continent of 
America with power to regulate commerce. Franklin had 
now revived the great idea and breathed into it an enduring 
life. As he descended the Hudson, the people of New York 
thronged about him to welcome, and he was revered as the 
founder of the American Union. The scheme met with op- 
position among the Colonies, but its greatest opposition is de- 
clared " to have been from among reflecting men in England 
who dreaded American Union as the Jvcystone of Independence ;" 
as they now dread American Union as the Keystone of 
American dignity and power. Franklin lived to see the 
adoption in 1778 of "the Articles of Confederation and jier- 
petual union," in which South Carolina united with her sis- 
ter States in declaring "that we do solemnly plighi and 
engage the faith of onr respective constituents that the Union 
shall be perpetual." lie lived still on to be a member of rlie 
Constitutional Convention of 17S7, and there proposed that 
their deliberations be sanctified by prayer to Him without 
whose notice a S])anow falls not to the ground, 

"Wlio wheels hi.« llironi; upon tlio rolliii.i; Wij.-l.i.'f," 

Who presides over the destinies of nations, and Who guided 
the deliberations of that august assemblage to the adoption 
of the American Constitution, "ordained to fonn a more 
perfect Union." 

Have I not made out my case? Was not the Union 
])rior to the Constitution ? Does not the comparative 
imply the positive ? Grammatically, logically, historically. 



IG THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 

does not the more perfect Union of 1787 demonstrate the 
existence of the Union prior to tliat period ? And this 
" perfect Union" was deemed by the patriots and sages of 
the Revolution, by the Father of the Constitution, a bond of 
" national existence." George Washington, the President of 
the Convention of 1787, who ought, at least, to be consider- 
ed good authority by every American citizen, said "in our 
efforts to establish a new national government, the contest, 
nationally considered, seems not to have been so much for 
glory, as for existence. It was for a long time doubtful, 
whether we were to survive as an independent republic, or 
decline from our federal dignity Hnto insignificant and withered 
fragments of Empire^ The history of the period, the strug- 
gles of fierce debate that took place in reference to the struc- 
ture of the Governnient, the nature and extent of its powers, 
its deficiencies and omissions, prior to its ratification by the 
people, afford the clearest and strongest confirmation of his 
words.. These objections of different degrees and magni- 
tude, of totally opposite natures, were urged with zeal and 
abilit)^ At last the Constitution triumphed, in the language 
of the letter of the Convention to Congress : "as the result 
of a spirit of unity, and of that mutual deference and conces- 
sion v.'hich the peculiarity of our political situation rendered 
indispensable ; keeping steadily in view that which appeared 
to them," — and docs to its, — "the greatest interest of every 
true American — tlic consolidation of our Unionn — in which is 
involved our prps}>L'rit}', felicity, safety, perhaps our national 
existence." The formation of a more perfect Union was their 
great object. The perils of a mere confederation had been 
experienced and to them were incapable of exagger-ation. 
They had achieved a separation from the mother country; 
but the adoption of the Constitution was esteemed "a 
triumpli of National Liberty." The Union of these States, in 
the language of Washington, " was the main pillar of their 
Independence." 

Kow, look at the Insti-uinent itsell'. The Consiituilon. 
For what purpose was it formed ? "Why adapted ? By 
iL'liom ? 

" We, the people ut' the United Staten, in order to form a 
more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tran- 



THANKSGIVING DISCOUKSE. 17 

quility, provide for the common defence, promote the gene- 
ral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves 
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of 
the United States of America." 

Sublime and beneficent purposes 1 

We, the people — not the States — do ordain and establish, not 
do contract and enter into a treaty with each other, this Con- 
stitution for the United States of America, not this treaty 
between the several States. This preamble was not adopted 
as a mere formulary, but is the solemn promulgation of a 
fundamental fact, vital to the character and operations of the 
Government. Its obvious object was to secure a GovTirnment 
of the people, instead of a confederacy of States ; a Con- 
stitution to them rather than a compact. " If ratified by 
States only, the States respectively, at their pleasure, might 
repeal it ; this alone exhibited the necessity of laying the 
foundation of a national government deeper than in the mere 
sanction of delegated power." They rested the fabric of an 
% American Republic on the solid basis of the consent of the 
people. This Constitution, ordained and established by the 
people, for the people, comprehends six objects : 

1. A more perfect Union. 2. The establishment of jus- 
tice. 3. The insurance of domestic tranquility. 4. Provi- 
sions for tjie common defence, o. The promotion of the 
general welfare. 6. The security of the blessings of liberty 
to ourselves and our posterity. It would be a pleasing and 
useful task, did our time permit, to consider and trace the 
relation which each of these objects bear to the others, and 
to show that collectively they embrace everything requisite, 
with the blessing of divine providence to render a people 
prosperous and happy. But we shall consider that dQsign 
alone which aflfects tlie duty of the hour. 

A more perfect Union. At the time of the adoption of the 
Federal Constitution, it is well known that several confedera- 
cies were contemplated, but opponents of the Union settled 
down into the advocacy of two ; one composed of the North- 
ern and Middle, the other of the Southern States, and the 
arguments against two confederacies were thus expressed. 

The advocates of Union said then, "If the tics of religion, 
language, a common ancestry, attachment to the same princi- 



18 ' THANKSGIVING DISCOrUSE. 



pics of froverninent, similar habits, manners, customs ; if these 
will not hold us together in the bonds of peace and union 
when forming one government, acting for the interests, and 
as the representative of the rights of the whole, how could 
we expect peace when side by side, interests and representa- 
tions separate : ambition, local interests and feelings, pecu- 
liarities of climate, products, institutions and imaginary 
aggressions or real grievances, rivalries of commerce jyid 
jealousy of dominion, should sjjread themselves over the dis- 
tinct councils, which would regulate our concerns by an inde- 
pendent legislation." Thus they reasoned, and for these 
reasons* they clung to the idea of national unity binding the 
people into one harmonious whole. 

That there might be no conflict between State and Na- 
tional authority, they ordained and established " that this 
Constitution, and tlie laws of the United States which shall 
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which 
shall be made, under the authority of the United States, 
.shall be the supreme latv of the land. And the judges in* 
every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitu- 
tion or laivs of any State to the contraiij notivithstandiny.'" 

Nothing was opposed with more violence at the time of 
the adoption of the federal Constitution than this article, and 
especially the last clause, because, it was, and, is the death 
of that doctrine of State Sovereignty, always a political 
heresy, taught in the past by a school of politicians whose 
avowed object was the disi'uption of the Union, and now 
advocated by those who would prevent, under a show of de- 
votion to the Constitution, the restoration of the Union. 
This clause made the Nation Supreme. 

The special violations of the Constitution that ai'e alleged are 
1st, in re/h-cnce to theiviit of Habeas Corpus. All the figures of 
rhetoric have have been exhausted in its praise. Of late, 
they have been xiscd over and over again, by men and news- 
j)apers who would trammel the energetic action of the Gov- 
ernment, when to save its life energy is demanded. 

Every one who has read the Constitution admits that 
tlie writ of Habeas Corpus may at certain times be sus- 
pended, although I have met with some very intelligent sym- 
])hathi/.ers with rebellion who Avere very strict Constitution- 



THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 19 



alists l)ut whose kiiOAvledge of the Constitution seems 
to have been obtained from the hicid commentaries of 
their party newspapers, who denied that jtower was ves- 
ted anyit'here for its susjicnsioii, "for," said they, "if so, 
the personal liberty of the* subject would be at tlic option 
of the ruler." But I think you will all admit that it 
may be suspended "when in cases of rebellion or foreign in- 
vasion, the public safety may require it." 

The fact of its suspension, in certain contingencies, being 
admitted, the contingencies being specified, Avhere rests the 
power for its suspension '? And here lies the real dithculty. I 
admit that there is room for a difference of opinion, but that 
there is any room for the broad charge of a violation of the 
Constitution made against the Administration, I deny. Nay, 
the charge is utterly absurd... Lord Lyons said, and he 
knoAvs all about the British Constitution, being a '■^Loi\l," and 
mu§t, per consequence, know all about the American, " that 
Congress alone has the power," and many who would aid 
traitor^ say the same, because the President has done it. I 
verily believe that if Congress had suspended the writ, they 
would have said, the President alone had the right. 

The Art. reads: "The privilege of the writ of Habeas 
Corpus shall not," not may not, but "shall not be suspended 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety 
may require it." Now, is it not clear that the Constitution 
contemplates certain grave contingencies in which the privil- 
ege of the writ may and ought to be suspended. These emer- 
gencies are "when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it." But as to where the authority for its 
suspension is lodged, the Constitution is silent. But is there 
any trouble in settling the question, where the power resides ? 
The Habeas Corpus, older than the Constitution, was sus- 
pended by the King, or Colonial Governors, or others acting as 
his, the Kings, representatives. Li one word, the Executive 
had been accustomed to suspend this writ by arbitrary power. 
The Constitution guards against the abuse of this preroga- 
tive ; not denying it to the Executive or transferring it to the 
judicial or legislative branches of the Government; but care- 
fully defining the circumstances in which alone the writ may 
V»e suspended. Therefore, under the Constitution, fls in the 



20 THA-NKSGIVIKG DISCOURSE. 

Colonial period, it remains with the Executive to suspepd the 
privilege of the writ ; but he can only do it when the public 
safety requires it. The power, then, is with the President, 
where it of right ought to be, to enable him to fulfill his sol- 
emn vow to maintain the Constittition, to repel invasion, and 
to subdue rebellion. Nay, I go further; in such times as 
these ; times of rebellion contemplated by the Constitution, 
the privilege of the writ is self suspended, whenever, where- 
ever and to whatever extent the public safety demands ; 
and except the public safety demands, neither President, 
Congress or any other power can suspend the pi'ivileges of 
the writ. 

2. The next assumed violation of the Constitution of which 
much is said, refers to the President's Proclamation of lib- 
erty. The emancipation policy of the President. You have 
certainly read the proclamation : the one of the twenty-sec- 
ond of S^tember, 1862, and of the fir.st of January. 1863, 
and the prior legislation which led to them. You have read 
them, ibr you have read, and heard and said, undoubtedly, a 
great deal about them ; and you have not, I trust, adopted the 
course of some reviewers so wittily described by Sydney 
Smith, that of never reading a book before reviewing it, as it 
prejudices them so abominably either for or against it, and, 
therefore, ignorance of its contents is necessary to impar- 
tiality. Taking it for granted that you have read, and are 
familiar with their provisions, I decline all analysis or argu- 
ment of them. I say nothing here as to their expediency or 
necessity, but this, that they commend themselves to my 
mind and conscience as a means for "the extirpation of the 
great evil of slavery," and as a military necessity, are clearly 
within the limits of Presidential authority. But are they 
Constitutional ? or may the institution that some have called 
divine, but whose history demonstrates it to be devilish, may 
it be interfered with ? may it be doomed to death constitu- 
tionally ? as it has been, "the public safety demanding its con- 
demnation as" a military necessity '? 

Patrick Henry, the Demosthenes of the Revolution, was 
opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Hon- 
festly opposed to it, for he had studied it and was acquainted 
with its provisions. Pie did not profess to be one of its ad- 



THANKSCaviNG DISCOURSE. 



21 



mirers, and then explain it away so as to make it a nullity — ■ 
the mere bladeless handle of a sword of authority. An in- 
strument containing prescribed duties without commensurate 
powers to enforce obedience. In the Virginia Convention 
which i-atilied the Constitution, he opposed the ratification on 
the ground tliat it gave Congress the power, under certain 
circumstances, to abolish slavery. He said : 

'' One of the great objects o§ Government is the national 
defence. The Constitution gives power to the General Gov- 
ernment to provide for the general defence, and the means 
must be commensurate to the end. All the means in the • 
possession of the people must be given to the Government 
which is intrusted with the publfc defence. May Congress 
not say every black man must fight 2 In the war of the Revo- 
lution,- Virginia passed an act of Assembly that every slave 
who Avould join the army should be free. At some future 
time, Congress will search the Constitution to see if they 
have not the power of manumission. And have they not, 
sir % Have they not the power to provide for the general de- 
fence and Avelfare? May they not think that these call for 
the abolition of slavery % May they not pronounce all slaves 
free'? and will they not be warranted by that power? The 
pap«r speaks to the point ; they have the power in clear, un- 
equivocal terms, and Avill clearly and certainly exercise it." 

Emancipation, then, is Constitutional. Patrick Henry vv'as 
prophetic in his utterance. Slavery has proved itself to be 
the mortal foe of the Constitution and the Union, and as such 
it must die. Its abolition is a necessity. 

3. I have heard the arming of the negroes opposed, on 
what were pretended to be Constitutional grounds. Patrick 
Henry said that it Avas done in the war of tlie Revolution. 
Wa.shington did it. Virginia approved it by act of Assena- 
bly. In the war of 1812, Andrew Jackson did it for the de- 
fence of New Orleans. And he who could give the approba- 
tion of a hero, heroically, when it was merited by deeds of 
approved valor, said to the men of color : 

"Soldiers : — From the shores of Mobile, I collected you to 
arms — I invited you to share in the perils and to divide 
the glory of your white countrymen. I expected much 
froiii you ; for I v/as not uninformed of tho-^e qualities which 



22 



THANKSGIVINC; DLSCOUKSE. 



must render you so formidable to an invading foe. I knew 
tliat you could endure hunger and thirst and all the hard- 
ships of war. I knew that you loved the land of your 
nativity, and that, like ourselves, you had to defend all 
that is most dear to man. But you surpass my hopes. I 
have foiuid in you, united to these qualities, that noble enthu- 
siasm which impels to great deeds." 

4. But all the various questions that have arisen need not 
to be settled in detail ; but by the principles of our Govern- 
ment. Our Government was made by the people, for the peo- 
ple, and as such its Constitution gives the powers necessary 
to its preservation, and the enforcement of the laws, and "it 
can interfere with any institution, condition or social status 
into which any of the subjects of the United States can enter, 
Avhenever such interference becomes essential as a means 
of public welfare or common defence." Self-preservation, is 
the first and primary law of nations, as well as of individuals. 
But it is claimed, that while it would be wrong to destroy 
our Government, that it has made no provision for its own 
salvation, and must die whenever a portion of its subjects in 
rebellion may demand. Why does it not provide foi- such 
exigencies, for .such emergencies when it says : 

" That Congress has power to make all laws which shall 
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the fore- 
going powers, and all other powers vested by tliis Constitu- 
tion in the Government of the United States, or in any officer 
thereof:" — and among these foregoing powers are the sup- 
pression of rebellion and the preservation of the Union. 

The Government is bound by the express letter of the Con- 
stitution to guarantee to South Carolina and to every other State 
'•'m the Union,"^ not out of it, a Republican form of govern- 
ment, and it gives me an inexpressible joy, this morning, to 
know that the Government is in a fair way to guarantee to 
South Carolina that which she so much needs — a republican 
form of Government, recognising that "all men are created 
free and equal." 

in. WE KEJOICE IN THE CONFIDENCE THAT THE PERMANENT PEACE 
AND PROSPERITY OF THESE STArES SHALL BE RESTORED. 

I love peace. I would not justify — I could not justify a 
war of aggression and of conquest. The United States is jus- 



THANKSGIVING UI.SCOLltSK. 



■2;j 



titled in this contest, before Europe, the World, before God, 
in that slie is the rightful Governnient, and is bound by every 
principle of law, human or divine, to be '"a terror to evil doers 
and a praise to them that do well." I justify her, because, 
this war, upon the part of her rebellious subjects, is an insur- 
rection in the interests of slavery against Democracy — against 
the will of the majority. It cannot succeed. Not that the 
North must triumph. I know no North in this controversy 
— the Government must triumph. Slavery, like all other 
huge crimes ag;)inst Goil, :md against a nation's life, should 
have died, died decently when the hour of its departure came. 
The Constitution made provision for its extinction, by the 
force of moral sentiments and religious teachings, by carefully 
and of set purpose keeping out of the instrument the terms 
slave or slavery, or the equivalent of either. They were not 
allowed "to blot the face of a Constitution destined to con- 
tinue long after this nefarious and anomalous system, in 
direct conflict with the ethical, and ethico-political principles 
of our whole system of Government, shall have passed away, 
and perished." It's hour of doom, of death, was fast hasten- 
ing. The enlightened moral public sentiment of the world was 
against its existence. Its metes and bounds had been ap- 
pointed it. The people, lliithful to conditions, to compro- 
mises, were Avilling to wait ages, if it were necessary, for its 
slow demise, its gradual death. But insolently defying the 
decree of the majority, claiming a continent for its inheri- 
tance, it sought to sap the foundation of civil and religious 
liberty, and then in madness rushed upon the thick bosses of 
the Constitution. It must die. The decree of God is death 
to murderers and it sought to kill a nation. I love peace, but 
war rather than death. I hate war, I abhor the necessity for 
civil tuinult and strife. I long for, pray for, preach for, the 
day when war and its causes shall cease forever from oflf the 
face of the earth. But there are some things Avorse than war, 
worse than civil conflicts. 

"Civil tumults," says Algerman Sydney, '-are not the 
greatest evils that befall a nation. 'Tis ill that men should 
kill one another, in seditious tumults and wars, but 'tis worse 
to bring men to such misery and baseness as to have neither 
courage nor strength to contend for anything — to ha^•o 



24 THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 

nothing worth defending, and to give the name of peace to 
desolation. Civil wars may be a right necessary means of 
moral and political improvement." Peace, permanent peace, 
demands the preservation of the Union, the maintenance of 
the National authority ! 

Victories in the cause of right. Victories for the government 
promise peace. July, 1863, Avill long be remembered as the 
month of months during these two years of darkness and of 
gloom. No one in Harrisburg can forget the closing days of 
June, they were dark, very dark to the citizens of this place. 
We were alarmed, at least all who know of the extent of the 
danger, and to others the very uncertainty added to the 
natural terror. A foe, the more implacable and revengeful 
from the very wickedness of the cause in which he was 
engaged, approached steadily the capital of the greatest State 
of this Union. The very fact that it was the capital, caused 
us to fear greater violence than would ordinarily characterise 
war. We knew that if taken the public buildings would be 
burned, for that, if no other reason, our homes were in danger. 
That Sabbath of ten-or. It is passed and is as a dream, a 
fearful dream, when one awaketh. The morning of the 4th 
of July came, that rainy gloomy Saturday, day ever memora- 
ble in our History, but no speech' making, no bonfires, no 
illuminations made our hearts glad. We listened for news 
from Gettysburg. We yet knew not how the con diet Avould 
terminate and our hearts almost stood still. At last it came. 
The insurrectionists were retreating, the uncertam contest of 
the first, had ripened into the glorious victory of the fourth. 
The Capital, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington relieved, 
and the o-rand historic array of the Potomac had covered itself 
with o'lory. We did not yet know of the surrender of 
Yicksburg, on the same day — so soon to be followed, by that 
of Port Hudson, but the glad news came, and then the 
cannons roared, and bonfires flamed, and bells rang, for the 
Mississippi from mouth to source was open to the flag, to 
commerce, to the Union. We cannot yet rightly estimate 
the importance of these victories. As to that of Vicksburg 
the usurper who claims for^ himself the Presidency of the 
so-called Southern Confedekcy, said on the 20th of laft 
I)ec<^mbor, to the legislature of Mississippi, '-that the grand 



i^r:j! 



THANKSGIVING DISCOL'RSK. 25 

'' object of the North was to g-et possession of the river and 
"thus cut the Confederacy in two." "He considered the 
" defence of the Mississippi valley a necessity not only to the 
" people of the adjoining States, but to the Confederacy itself 
" Vicksburg and Port Hudson are forts which must be de- 
" feuded at all hazards, and every effort must be strained for 
"ibr this purpose." But they fell — and let his words be the 
estimate of the consequences thereof 

I cannot enumerate all the victories " so signal and so effec- 
tive on the land and on the sea." Victories carrying in their 
hands the grand old flag, no mere painted rag, that flag which 
means our whole national history, which is the Constitution, 
the Government, the free people that stand in the Govern- 
ment on the Constitution; — that flag the symbolized history 
of the Revolution — of the^ late war — of all that we have done 
and suffered as a people for the world. That flag which has 
written on all its ample folds — all this struggle for Liberty 
against Slavery — for government against anarchy — for law 
against disorder — for constitutions against mere compacts, for 
the Union and Republican forms of government in it, against 
so called confederacies with monarchies out of it. 

Suffer me to add a few lessons, and point to some of the 
dangers of the hour. 

1. I could be jubilant to-day looking southward, but my 
rejoicing is with trembling. Not alone is it tempered by the 
sympathy that I feel with the many bereaved ones in this land, 
with the sick and wounded, who crowd our many hospitals , 
and everywhere greet our eyes Avith the terrible evidences of 
this sanguinary conflict — with tears for the brave patriotic 
dead who have gone to God ; but with the frightful slumber- 
ing possibilities of the future. We know not what a day may 
bring forth. What may be even yet in store for us God only 
knows. That He will save this nation — if this nation is worthy 
of salvation, if it will make its calling and election sure — I 
have always believed — I believe it now. But will this be so ? 
Shall we work oat our salvation with fear and trembling '? 
Shall we prove ourselves worthy of the heritage of freedom 
that our fathers have bequeathed us ? Thus far, we have done 
well ; the nation has accomplislied all that could have been 
rea5.onably expected of her. Shall we continue patient in 



2G THANKSGIVING DISCOL'KSE. 

well doing 1 We are reaping that which we have sown in 
the past; and in the future we shall reap that Avhich avc are 
now sowing. Shouhl we faint — should we fail to comprehend 
the divinely appointed future that God holds out as the re- 
ward of perseverance in the good and right Avay. Should we, 
misled by the teachings of evil men, fiiil to secure "the 
peace by righteou;>ness"' — and grasp the false peace of the 
wicked, barter away the permanent peace and prosperity of a 
nation that maintains its unity and dignity for the peace of 
compromises with Avrong; then, oh, my, country, "farewell, 
a long farewell to all thy greatness." The politicians frighten 
me, for the people seem so blindly led by them — like lambs 
to the slaughter. What we want, and the great danger of 
the hour is because we have it not — is Uniti/ ! Not a con- 
strained unity such as has existed in the South, a unity brought 
about by bayonet, but a unity of public sentiment, arising out 
of love to the country, born of patriotism, of which the fright- 
ful spirit of party has endeavored to deprive us. 

One of the laws of Solon, the celebi'ated legislator of 
Athens, inilicted death as the penalty on every citizen who 
should continue neuter when parties ran high in that Repub- 
lic. For to him it seemed such culpable indiflerence, to the 
interests of the Commonwealth, the declining to take a part 
on great and critical occasions, that death could be its only 
expiation. The rigor of the law is to be condemned, but the 
principle on which it is founded is just and solid. In contests 
that relate to particular men or measures, a Avell Avisher to his 
country may remain silent ; but when, as noiv, the great inter- 
ests of a nation are at stake, when the destinies of unborn 
millions are at issue, when the life of a nation trembles in the 
balance, to have no opinion, or to hesitate in all proper ways 
and places as to its expression — is crime ! Neutrality ! it is 
impossible. He that is not with his country is against her. 

You have all heard of old John Burns the Hero of Gettys- 
burff. I stood by his bedside when he lay with the three 
severe wounds received on the 1st day of July, and heard him 
express his opinion of our duty in this contest, an opinion in 
which I heartily coincide — it embodies the true theory of 
success. "Everybody should be engaged in this struggle. 
Everybody should fight for the country." "Not," said he 



THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 27 

in explanation, "not that everybody should shoulder the 
nuisket or carry the sword, I do not mean that, but if 
hindered from this, they should speak or write in favor of the 
government in its struggle against treason." 

2. There has been a growing sentiment, dangerous to 
ouv peace, and inimical to our prosperity — that only the 
rich have an interest in the maintenance of our govern- 
ment. 

One will say, " I have no pecuniary interest in the suc- 
cess of the government : I should lose nothing by the 
success of the South, for I have nothing to lose." Yes, 
you would — you Avould lose a government that should be 
dearer to you than anything on earth, for it is '• the poor 
man's government." It has always seemed to me that the 
question before us, whether Republicanism shall survive upon 
this continent ? whether the last ]-efi^e of the largest liberty 
conlpatible with order and law and public safety shall survive 
the shock of civil commotion ? is eminently a question for the 
poor man to settle ; that he has in it the greatest interest. ]Men 
of wealth may secure by their wealth their personal comfort, 
and that room for the exercise of a laudable ambition that 
possesses the minds of men — under almost any form of gov- 
ernment. For, the posst's-iion of properfy lies at the base of all 
the hercditarii distinctions of the old world, The landed estate 
accompanies the proud titles of nobility, but here the proud 
title is that of citizen, and citizenship is universal, and the 
basis of our equality in the eye of the law lies there.—. 
There is the equal chance — and from the door of hovel or of 
hut, as well as of mansion, lies the plain path to all the eleva- 
tions of honor. That a poor man should countenance this 
rebellion, that he should in any way sympathize with the 
foreign or domestic enemies of this country ; that he should 
lend himself to schemes tJiat have for their object the subver- 
sion of the rightful, of the just and legally constituted govern- 
ment of the country is to me a profound mystery. They 
who do so know not what they do. It can only be the 
result of false teaching. Evil men and seducers that wax 
worse and worse, but lead them estray. 

To array a working man against the government, in Ulis 
struggle, must be the result of fearful misrepresentations of 



28 THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 

the origin, principles, purposes and ends of the Government, 
and of tliis fearful civil war of Southern slaveholders of 
the results, toward which, if triumphant the Rebellion, moves 
as the needle to tiie pole. The very dignity of labor is involved 
in this strife !is plain as the shining of the sun in mid heaven. 
' They who fight as leaders in the interests of this Rebellion 
would destroy democracy, they would reduce free white work- 
ing men to a level with negro slarea, they would bring the 
laboring classes to an equality with negroes in their occupa- 
tion, their social- life, and their political destiny. " Capi'ial" 
with them is to " own its labor." If in their insane efforts, 
their institution perish by their own traitorous hands, through 
the violence of the bloody war they have brought upon the 
country, let it perish. To fasten chains more securely upon 
slaves, they would overthrow your liberties and mine. The 
true interests of workingmen lead us to thankfulness for the 
victories that promise stability to the democratic form of gov- 
ernment. 

3. Another danger of the hour arises from the tendency 
in the public mind either to underrate or overrate the 
magnitude of the contest. With the one party the strength 
of the Rebellion has always been represented as insignificant. 

Before the war we were told there would be no contest — the 
South only meant to bluster us into' "concessions," compro- 
mises, that the Union sentiment existing in the South would 
soon assert itself, and bury the mad agitators in one common 
ruin. 

After war seemed inevitable, then it was but a mere cloud in 
the political heavens no bigger than a huinan hand : in ninety 
days Y,'e Avere promised peace, and when the ninety days drew 
near their close, and the war was upon us, then, the South was 
nearly exhansied, starved out, "hungry," "naked." Others have 
gone to the extreme in the opposite direction. We could 
never conquer the South. The world had never seen anything 
like the relxjUion for magnitude. The task presented to us as a 
people was so huge in its proportions tlmt it was hopeless. The 
sword could never decide the controversy. Our only hope was 
in compromise — Comj'jromise '? What? With ii'ho7n? Compromise 
theoutraged dignity of the Nation. Compromise with traitors, 
with men whose object under the frailest gauze of deception is 



THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 29 

the overtlirow of the Rcpxiblican piinciple on this continent, 
men actuated by the distinct purpose to overtlirow the rule of 
the many, in favor of the rule of the few, who, for the sake of 
their institution, a disgrace to the civilization of the age, would 
supplant popular government and establish a monarchy, 
believing that it can have no effectual safeguard, except what 
the strongest government can afford. Comprojuise means su?'- 
render in many Inouths, and surrender to men who openly 
pronounce " Republicanism a failure," and promise, reorgani- 
zation and reconstruction ultimately of the entire Union upon 
a basis of slavery, Avith those forms of government which are 
its effectual safeguard, and that are not and cannot be in thfe 
very nature of things Democratic. But can we conquer ? — 
Can we save the national life ? I would by no means under^ 
rate, not even now in the hour of victory, the task before us. 
A nation's death struggle may be upon us. The temple of 
Nationality may totter and fall, but the fall must bury a 
whole people in the ruins thereof But if true to ourselves 
we shall but strengthen the foundations of popular govern- 
ment. We shall emerge from our struggle purified by the 
baptism of fire. 

Before this war commenced, before a soldier had marched 
through our streets, or had offered his services to the 
government, I had as far as my iveak influence extended, 
endeavored to arouse the people to a -sense of the coming- 
danger; and when Sumter had fallen, and loyal men were 
offering their services, but with no just appreciation of the 
magnitude of the contest upon which Ave were entering, I 
then lifted my feeble voice to warn them of the extent of the 
preparations, and of the resom'ces and of the purposes of the 
conspirators ; but my fears were supposed to have excited my 
imagination, and were esteemed as groundless. I desire now, 
to say to you the Rebellion is not yet at an end ; and the great 
duty of loyalty in this hour is to prosecute this war to the very 
extent of all the resources of the government for the suppres- 
sion of domestic insurrection. 

4. Another of the many lessons of the hour, and the 
last one that time permits, arises from what are esteemed the 
dangers of the intervention of foreign powers. 

At the commencement of the struggle, the most of us were 



30 THAKKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 

mistaken. I think it was the general supposition that the 
side of the Government, the side of justice, and the rightful 
authority would meet with, at least, a fair and impartial neu- 
trality, founded upon sympathy from other nations ; but we 
forgot that for once the side of authority was the side of Rejjub- 
licanism, the side of the people, and that the instincts of Mon 
archy would be against us — their sympathies went, as we might 
have known they would have gone, with the side to which the 
golden glorious words of the r)eclaration, '' that all men are 
created free and equal," were but "glittering generalities." 
And yet we have but little to fear. We have watched for inte7-- 
vention, we have anticipated it, we have elaborated theories in 
reference to its results, and still it is in the future. It is post- 
poned, from day to day, from one steamer to another. I may 
be mistaken — the future is so uncertain, the thread of the des- 
tiny of one people mingles itself so strangely, Avmds itself so 
mysteriously with that of the destiny of another. — / may be 
mistaken, but I have little fear of any intervention ; the threat, 
the anticipation, has prolonged the struggle, it has multiplied 
the loss of precious lives, the sacrifices of the present to the 
future, but He Avho spake to the sea in tempest, and there was 
a (/reaf calm, who says to its waves, thus far shalt thou go and 
no farther, He whom the AvAth of man so often praises, 
the remainder shall He restrain. Even the so-called Confed- 
eracy now despairs of English intervention. It has l)een to the 
South an ignius fatmis that has lured onward, step by step ; the 
mirage in the desert, that seemed ivater and now vanishes 
when the agony of thirst is intolerable. The conspirators 
turn from England to France. One usurpation turns in its 
despair to another, and Richmond hopes, and even exults in the 
hope, that France ■will be compelled to intervention for the sake 
of the little Napoleonic idea that has recently sprang up like a 
mushroom in Mexico. But do not the complications of Euro- 
pean politics promise that the Emjieror (?) will very soon have 
enough to do nemvr home ? while our success will dissolve the 
bubble of Empire on this American Continent like snow in sun- 
light. I believe of France, and especially of England, that they 
have been, and are still jealous of the growing power of the 
United States, that they would interfere or not interfere just 
as might seem necessary to secure disruption or disunion, but 



TllANKSfllVINO mSCOI'RSK. 31 

otir duty in either event is the same, to ni:iint:un the Union 
of these States. Six months of loyalty, animating every 
heart, bringing to every lip the old patriotic utterance of 
David : "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand 
forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
mouth, " would suffice to postpone intervention, until the 
idea in the light of the glorious future of union and strength 
and permanent peace and prosperity would seem like a mad- 
man's dream. 

5. The only hope of peace, permanent peace and pros- 
perity to this countr}', lies in the prosecution of this war, to 
the suppression of rebellion, to the maintenance of the 
national authority. The union of these States must be main- 
tained. This should be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end. We should secure, beyond all possible doubt, 
for all future time, a united country. That which has 
threatened our disruption, must disappear from among us. 
Slavery, Avhich has filled up the measure of its crimes, making 
of our nation a stumbling block, a hissing, and a by-word to 
the nations, introducing in our national councils discord, inso- 
lence, rapacity, murder ; arming brother against brother ; 
endeavoring to separate that which God hath united — these 
States. It must die. All the battle-fields, all the graves, all 
the widows and orphans, with breaking hearts, demand that 
out of the struggle, the nation shall come forth free — all free ; 
a homogeneous people ^vith homogeneity of interests. 

Reforms that the hour has taught us, beyond all cavil, 
to be absolutely necessary, call for our serious, solemn 
consideration. Politics must be snatched from the foul 
grasp of men who make the material and social inter- 
ests of a great and free people a trade. Good men — men 
who believe in God — in a' divine overruling Providence 
— in the Providential destiny of this country to be th^ 
light, lightening the nations in their pathway upward to 
liberty — to the rule of an enlightened people, men Avhosc 
})ath is in the light, must be the guides. Our children, girls 
as well as boys, must be taught the nature and value of gov- 
ennnent. A love for country, that many wuters cannot 
quench, nor the Hoods drown, must be instilled into their 
hearts. We want, and must have, by schools, colleges, 



32 



THANKSGIVING DISCODRS^. 



churches, by any and all educators, the cultivation of an 
intense American sentiment. A sentiment of nationality. 

Our lands are cheap and fertile ; we have room for thou- 
sands of the Old World. We have social and political dis- 
tinction for them if they are found worthy; but America, 
must not, cannot, will not submit to be Europeanized ; the thou- 
sands who come, and are welcome, must be Americanized. 
No wider field, no better opportunity, for the poor and down- 
trodden of older lands, but American ideas for America. We 
proffer liberty, a larger liberty than any of the older Govern- 
ments, offer to their children. But it is not liberty to destroy 
government, it is not licentiousness, but Uberty controlled 
by law. 

And ive, too, native and to the manor born, must know no 
North, no South, no East, no West, nothing but our country. 
New England cannot be left out in the cold, the South can- 
not take her portion of goods and go into a far country to 
waste them in riotous living with the harlots of Monarchy. 
There is room enough and bread enough in the old house for 
all, and lovingly and cheerfully we must abide t'bgether. Let 
ns fling away the trammels of party, that would hold us 
apart, and rising to the comprehension of our true interests, 
write on our banners, '■'■No party but our country. '' 

From all the dangers of the hour that threaten her I turn 
to contemplate thee, O, dear country ! 

My country ! how I love thee : dearer to me than ever be- 
fore, now that thy glory has been dimmed — thy beauty 
shrouded. Thou shalt yet emerge from this sanguinary strife 
fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army 
with banners. My country ! O thou dear land of Liberty, 
with garments rolled in blood, travailing in the greatness of 
thy strength, thy worst enemies have been they of thine own 
household, thy parricidal, uTftgrateful children would have slain 
thee, the nations thought thee dead, and predicted that an- 
archy and then despotism would be the heirs of thy vast 
domain. But O ! government of the free ! thou wast not 
dead, thou didst but sleep, thou art awake now, may we not 
hope never to sleep again, for the sins that stupified thee, 
there' is sorrow, not the sorrow that worketh death, but the re- 
pentance into life. To keep back the assassin's knife from 



THANKSGIVIN'G DlSCOUKSIi. 33 



thy life, thy loyal, loving children fall. The nations mistook 
thy sleep for the death of trespasses and sins from which dead 
nations never wake — but there is life for thee, beautiful, sin- 
ning but repentant one! And to-day the grand vision of 
Milton rises into view, — " Methinks I see a noble and puiss- 
ant nation rousing herself like a strong man after a sleep, and 
shaking her invincible locks : methinks I see her as an eagle, 
renewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes 
at full mid-day beam, purging and unsealing her long abrased 
sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance; ^vhile the 
u'/io/e ^fi.ock of noisij, timorous birds, icit/i those who lave the ttri- 
iight flutter about, amazed at what she means.'''' 

They will know soon what she means when the old flag- 
waves in undisputed triunipli. as wave it will, over ever}- inch 
of the national doniain. 

We weep now the fallen, the children of to-day sigh and long 
for the dead tathers who will never return, but the generations 
to come will be as the descendants now of revolutionary sires. 
How proud they are as with erect forms and glistening eyes they 
tell of those who fell hi that old struggle of 'Tti, when a nation 
was born. The dear dead of 'Gl and '62 and 'Go, they died 
to redeem, to regenerate, to disenthrall thee, my country. 

Ah what an age is this in which we live. The air seems 
charmed around us. The gnmd consummation approaches. — 
From afar the down-ti'odden and oppressed watch for the 
stars in our banner ! They are still there / above the clouds and 
storms of battle they .shine serenely bright. The war goes 
on. God hastens its termination in the triumph of the dem- 
ocratic principle, in the elevation of all men to the freedom 
and equality for which He created them. We will have one 
Constitution and one Liberty, and that nniversal. The winds' 
shall carry it from oce;m to ocean across the continent, the 
mountains echo it in thunder tones. The land is vocal with it. 
One Nation, one Constitution one Flag I Hear it, England. — 
One country and indivisible. One people and inseparable, O, 
France I To Europe, to the world is borne on every passing 
breeze, the cry of Unity and of Strength. One God! one 
Hope 1 one Baptism ! on^e Constitution ! one Government ! 
one Nation 1 one Countiy ! one People I We will maintain 
om* destiny, in despite of all peril now and forever ! 



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